Az-Zukhruf · Makki · ayah 37 of 89

Az-Zukhruf 43:37

وَإِنَّهُمْ لَيَصُدُّونَهُمْ عَنِ ٱلسَّبِيلِ وَيَحْسَبُونَ أَنَّهُم مُّهْتَدُونَ

“And indeed, they [i.e., the devils] avert them from the way [of guidance] while they think that they are [rightly] guided”

Saheeh International

Essence

Their companions turn them off the open road, and the cruellest part comes with it: they feel sure they are rightly guided.

A reflection

The error that feels like guidance

The first half of this ayah is expected. The companions assigned in the previous ayah turn their people away from the road. The second half is the frightening part. Wa-yaḥsabūna annahum muhtadūn: and they think they are rightly guided.

A person who knows he is lost can still be found. He asks for directions. He stops. He turns round. A person who is sure he is on the right road keeps walking, faster and more confidently, in the wrong direction.

One modern commentary draws out the consequence in a single line. They think they are guided to the truth, and therefore they do not repent from their misguidance. That is the trap. Repentance needs a sense of having gone wrong. The companion's real work is to remove that sense.

Another commentary says the devils make error look attractive and make faith and obedience seem distasteful. The person does not feel pushed. He feels persuaded. He even feels proud.

The verb yaḥsabūna comes from a root of counting and reckoning. They have done the sums, as it were, and the sums say they are fine. But the reckoning was never checked against anything outside themselves.

A man is stopped by a police car for driving the wrong way down a newly one-way street. He is indignant. He has driven this road every day for twenty years. He has not looked at the signs, because he did not think he needed to.

The ayah does not invite us to doubt everything. It invites us to keep looking at the signs. A believer's humility is not uncertainty. It is the willingness to be corrected.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.